A battery block having desired voltage or current capacity is obtained by combining plural cells. In the battery block, electrode terminals of the plural cells are connected to a single electrode plate. Therefore, when overcurrent flows in a cell, the battery block itself may be short-circuited. Therefore, a fuse for disconnecting the electrode plate and the corresponding cell may be provided to prevent a short circuit.
When a fuse is disposed between the corresponding cell and the electrode plate, a technique of forming the fuse by performing a bracket welding process between an electrode terminal of a cell and an electrode plate or forming the fuse by wire-bonding has been proposed (see PTL 1).
PTL 2 discloses a fuse manufacturing method including (A) a step of forming an input terminal portion and plural output terminal portions by press-punching a conductive metal plate, (B) a step of previously molding an area of the punched metal plate, which includes a position where a fuse portion is formed, with an insulator, and (C) a step of forming the fuse portion having a substantially S shape through the use of a punching process. However, there is a problem in that the manufacturing process is complicated and bonding strength between the fuse and the cell is weak.
Various relevant techniques have been disclosed (for example, PTLs 3 to 7), but the above-mentioned problem has not been solved.